ORLANDO, FLORIDA — U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) issued a “travel warning” to socialists, communists and anyone who “believes in big government” that might want to come to Florida.
“Think twice if you’re thinking about taking a vacation or moving to Florida,” Scott said in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday.
“We’re the free state of Florida. We actually don’t believe in socialism,” he continued. “We like freedom, liberty, capitalism, things like that.”
Scott alluded to the Sunshine State’s large Latin-American population, many of whom fled socialist dictatorships in nearby foreign countries such as Cuba.
“Some people in our state lived under it,” he said. “We know people who lived under socialism. It’s not good. It’s not good for anybody.”
I’m warning socialists and communists not to travel to Florida. They are not welcome in the Sunshine State.pic.twitter.com/ZB4RVz6XdK
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) June 27, 2023
The video immediately ignited social media, racking up nearly 500,000 views on Twitter less than two hours after being posted.
ANOTHER “TRAVEL WARNING”
Scott issued a similar warning on May 23, declaring that Florida is “openly hostile toward Socialists, Communists, and those that enable them.”
“Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration,” he added in a press release at the time.
Scott’s warning last month came two days after the NAACP issued a travel warning for African Americans considering a move or visit to Florida.
Governor Ron DeSantis has called the hyperbolic travel warnings “stunts.”
“This is a stunt to try to do that,” the governor said in April. “It’s a pure stunt. And fine, if you want to waste your time on a stunt, that’s fine.”
